Freight News, Rail, Sea


Report explores Liverpool rail options

[ October 1, 2026   //   ]

Transport policy research group Greengauge 21 has published a study of how access to the Port of Liverpool could be improved, saying that there is an opportunity to increase significantly the amount of freight brought in and out of the port by rail.

The report says that it requires a radical new freight routeing strategy that responds to the capacity limitations on today’s national rail network, especially the constraints across Manchester, for which no solution is in sight.

Currently, it is estimated that just 2% of Liverpool port’s containerised freight is transported by rail, far less than major ports around the UK.

A separate – but potentially complementary approach – would lead to the development of a nearby inland port/logistics hub where the M57 and M58 motorways meet and end, fed by a revived rail link from the port area. This could use innovative automated technology, as increasingly in use in World Ports to shift short trainloads of containers between the port and nearby trans-shipment hubs,  improving port efficiency in the process.

The independent report was commissioned by Rimrose Valley Friends, who successfully campaigned against National Highways’ Port of Liverpool Access Road from 2017-24 and committed to pursuing alternative solutions.

Stu Bennett of Rimrose Valley Friends said: “We’re urging our Combined Authority, Sefton Council and Peel Ports themselves to reinstate meetings of the Port Access Steering Group with renewed purpose, and to work with other stakeholders including Network Rail, the Rail Freight industry and the Department for Transport to study the report’s findings and recommendations. In particular, Peel Ports’ involvement will be critical, as only they can advise where this freight is going, and which rail routes have potential.”

Report co-author and Greengauge 21 director Jim Steer added: “The potential ‘new’ routes for freight would require targeted investment in the existing rail network and, it is estimated, could be capable of delivery within a 5-10 year period. The key concept is using a route via Blackburn both to access the Settle & Carlisle line – avoiding the busy West Coast Main Line for freight flows between the port and Scotland and to access the Calder Valley Line which links the port with the Yorkshire/Humber & the North East.”

He pointed out, also: “The Manchester rail network is a bottleneck which isn’t addressed by the Trans Pennine  Route Upgrade nor – as far as railfreight is concerned – by schemes such as Stage 2 of Northern Powerhouse Rail (NPR) – the proposed new Liverpool-Manchester rail link. What emerges from this report is a low-cost solution to this problem.”